The Tutor
by Elias A
Summary: Why would a brilliant young scholar willingly employ himself to the Warden of Incarceron? What could a Sapient possibly expect from a man like John Arlexa?
1. Chapter 1

The Tutor

By, Elias A.

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. Just fooling around.

_"He smiled his gentle smile. 'It may seem to you as if I've been here forever, but I actually came just after your fifth birthday. The Warden sent to the Academy for the best Sapient available. His daughter's tutor could be nothing less.'" Incarceron, Catherine Fisher_.

Even packed for eleven days of travel, Jared had few possessions.

A footman in tawny brown robes heaved his single trunk onto the waiting carriage. Jared watched him secure it to the roof with twin straps

"The box Master?" The footman eyed the gleaming wooden case tucked under the Sapient's left arm.

"I shall carry it with me."

"Yes sir." The footman retreated to the opposite side of the carriage, where the stablehands were moving the last horse into position.

Jared spared a glance behind him. The west wings of the Academy were barely visible in the night. At this hour, the ground level buildings were silent, save for the bustle in the carriage house and the stables. Even the kitchens were dark, their fires reduced to coals, and the servants tucked warmly in bed. Yet high above, lights twinkled in the towers.

The carriage lanterns gave off their own soft glow. In their watery light, Jared removed a thick square envelope from the stiff wool of his coat. He lifted its flap, where the words _Honorable Masters of the Academy_ peeked out in pitch black ink.

With a Sapient's discipline, the letter was already committed to memory. Its words, the stiff tone, and the delicately false cordiality. Jared withdraw the letter to read it again.

_Honorable Masters of the Academy,_

_ Six months from this letter's date, my daughter, the Lady Arlexa, attains five years of age. At that time, I wish her formal education to commence. In her tender years, my daughter has proved a willing and curious pupil. I intend that only the best of academics should rouse her intellect._

_ I desire that one of your own should teach my daughter the languages, histories, sciences, and other arts suitable to the Realm and her station. Certain leniency for Sapient curricula shall be granted. The tutor shall attend her for a period of twelve years, and thereafter shall be fit to pursue personal interests._

_ If Your Honors see fit to send me a Sapient of extraordinary discipline and exceptional brightness of mind and spirit, I shall host the Master with lodgings, furnishings and other necessaries for his employ._

_ Please reply by post._

_ Very truly yours,_

_ M. John O. Arlexa_

"Master, we are ready to depart."

Jared turned back to the voice of the footman. The harnessed horses shifted restlessly, and the driver was settling into position, his gloved hands gripping the reins.

Jared pocketed the letter, and taking the footman's offered hand, stepped up and into the dry, cramped interior of the carriage, the door closing behind him. He settled himself onto the velvet seat and placed the wood chest at his feet.

_He will be impossible_. The words of his superiors floated back to Jared as the carriage jerked into motion. They had not offered him the position without fair warning.

_A whore to Protocol. Totalitarian in and out of Court._

Some of the criticisms had been expected. After years in their presence, Jared knew the senior masters of the Academy were hostile to the keeper of the great Sapient experiment.

_ Privacy will be difficult._

Abruptly, the carriage jolted forward to begin its long journey.

The Academy Masters voiced valid concerns. In the case at his feet and in the pockets on his person, Jared traveled with his few valuable possessions. Delicate crystal chips, sophisticated privacy scanners, vials of noxious liquids.

He performed above his peers in nearly all Academy disciplines. At twenty-one, he was young yet mostly finished for a Sapient. Beneath layers of Sapient learning, Jared knew his only loyalty was to his scholarship. Perhaps this had been enough for the Masters to make their decision.

Jared tugged the collar of his new coat to shut out the cold night air seeping into the carriage. It was too dark to read. Eleven days of journey lay ahead.

Settling back into the carriage seat, he wrapped his long limbs beneath the heavy fabric of the shimmering coat and settled his cheek against its high collar.

Wrapped in such a garment, Jared slept soundly.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

To reach the Warden's estate was a long and lonely journey. Stretches of unbroken countryside and thick, shaded forests lay between the Sapient Academy and Jared's assignment.

To Jared, the carriage was no novelty, and he cursed the Protocol that made its archaic discomfort the only option. By the time his party reached the inn or the hospitality of a rural Sapient his neck was stiff, his back sore, and he could only guess at the rotten condition of the driver and the two footmen.

Yet the daily journey proved suitable for long stretches of uninterrupted reading. And planning. Jared was preparing for his first private pupil, and he understood that tutoring the daughter of the Warden left no room for error.

At the Academy, none of the Sapient Masters who knew the Warden personally had met his daughter. They could offer him no details of the terribly young girl for whose education Jared would take personal responsibility. For a Sapient, a scholar by oath, academia was no mere pursuit, but a lifestyle. His pupil's mode of thought and level of education would reflect his commitment to the Academy and his own abilities as a Sapient. And too, Jared knew that to be the only daughter of the Warden of Incarceron was no small burden. He knew well enough the intrusive dictates and demands on young ladies of the Court. He did not doubt that the Lady Arlexa, even at age five, was being trained for the role in society that waited to envelope her.

Jared was startled from this sobering thought as the carriage jostled onto harsher terrain. The light brightened as they emerged from the forest. Through the grimy glass of the carriage window, Jared glimpsed a long, narrow, glittering lake in the far distance. They were nearing the Warden's estate.

The young Sapient fell back into his long thoughts.

If the Lady Arlexa proved an adequate student, Jared would sharpen her mind with his Sapient training. She would enter society with a superior education.

If she was not clever, as was so often the case for young men and women of the court, Jared would still strive to strengthen her mind with a sound and disciplined curriculum.

_If she is an exceptional student . . . _

Jared paused on this hopeful thought. Twelve years with a single pupil required more than mere allegiance to a plan of study. The Lady Arlexa would walk into the world as a pupil of his own name.

_If she is an exceptional student, I will . . ._

Jared tabbed a page in the text on his lap, and lay his head against the jostling carriage to consider his options.

Training his pupil under the scrutiny of the Warden would be easy for a typical student. If the young lady was sharp of mind, and craved a _complete_ education, one beyond the scruples of Protocol, then Jared would have to trust her to comprehend the virtue of discretion before her father.

At that moment, Jared committed to his choice. He would willingly teach Arlexa's daughter what she could afford to know. It would be her unknown task. Jared could tutor her only as far as he could trust her, and she would reveal her own boundaries as they became acquainted.

He would use his training to sharpen her mind. He would dedicate what good years remained in his life to this task. He would watch for signs of treachery.

A thump on the carriage door drew him from his thoughts. The carriage had stopped. A voice sounded just beyond the window.

"Master Sapiant, we have arrived."


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

Jared climbed down from the carriage on stiff legs. He gazed up at the Warden's manor.

Its designer had probably aimed for revival chateau, with its hipped roof and ornamented balconies. Yet there were two towers of the gothic variety behind its east wing, and a few gargoyles adorned the upper eaves.

Internally, Jared snorted at the bastardized architecture. Protocol was one long ruin of romanticized history.

He stepped onto the fine, white gravel of the manor estate, and watched as the impressive front entry swung open, its iron bolstered beams glimmering in the noon-day sun.

Two figures emerged, one in brown breeches, the other in a somber dress. Servants.

They moved quickly down the steps to where Jared stood, alone, in the darkest green of the Sapient coat. He carried the small wood box under his arm.

"Master Sapient," the woman was speaking, "I am Locks, head of household." She turned to the man beside her and indicated the few trunks behind Jared. "See to those."

Jared marveled at this greeting. A new thought sprang to life, and he wondered, if as tutor, he would be treated as another servant in the household. To do so would be a grave insult to the Sapienti. The Sapient Masters would descend on the Wardenry, snap Jared back to the Academy, and-

His thoughts froze as he saw a new figure emerge from the darkness of the manor's entry.

The Warden.

Jared knew him by voice, by face, by Protocol code signature. And somewhere in his subconscious, out of reach of his stringent Sapient education, some irrational, primal part of Jared knew the Warden was a predator.

Jared tucked this thought aside, and reached down to place the wooden box carefully on a nearby trunk.

The Warden descended the scrubbed marble steps, the black wool of his coat and breeches looking stifling in the sun. He was neither smiling nor scowling. Jared felt the Warden's gaze sweep over him, from head to two and back up. When the Warden spoke, his voice was deep and elegant.

"Master Sapient, welcome to the Wardenry. I am relieved to see you arrived safely." He extended his hand, palm down, which Jared accepted, returning the moderate squeeze.

"Thank you Warden. My journey was one of contemplation."

"As is appropriate for a Sapient, I would expect." The Warden's words came fast now, and Jared raced to comprehend their subtleties.

"We have prepared the east tower for you. It has been outfitted for your personal use. The Lady Arlexa has rooms by the southern court where she will take lessons. The grounds are available for your use, and hers, so long as within the propriety of her studies."

The Warden was leading him up the stairs now, and Jared reached for the wood box before following him.

"You'll meet the staff as you acclimate. Restricted grounds of the estate are marked."

Jared recognized that last sentence as a blatant euphemism. There was no doubt in his mind that Protocol or not, security in the Warden's household was scrupulous and cruel. Here was the man who controlled The Great Experiment, and for that very reason, the Warden was more removed from Protocol than any other being in the Realm. Jared hung onto this thought as he followed the Warden across a wood-paneled gallery and into a spacious, sunlit drawing room.

There were fresh cut flowers in delicate, porcelain vases, and large oil paintings hanging heavily along the southern wall. The Warden maneuvered his way through the horsehair furniture to a set of chairs overlooking the western gardens of the estate. The Warden gestured for him to sit. From his perch, Jared glimpsed the corner of an ivy green labyrinth beyond the windows.

Belatedly, he realized the Warden was watching him. Jared shifted his eyes back to the man before him.

"You are very young, Master Sapient."

Jared suppressed a swallow, and pondered over the choice of words. Young for what? It was only a brief pause, but the Warden resumed.

"But I don't doubt that the Academy sent its best." It was no compliment. The Warden's tone had lost any semblance of pleasantness. His voice was empty of inflection when he spoke again.

"My daughter's future is nearly settled. Preparing her for that future remains my final task." The Warden accepted a tumbler of amber liquid and a folded cloth napkin from a servant, and he rested both on the armrest of the chair. His expression remained placid. "You will find that Claudia's ego is already blossoming. Leave that, as well as her manners, to her governess and other ladies. I require your full attention on her mental capacities."

Jared gingerly accepted the second tumbler on the servant's tray, and politely set it down on the glass table beside him. The Warden continued, uncaring of the unflattering image he was painting of his daughter.

"You have the list of subjects. I leave it up to you to set the method. I will monitor her education as my time and duties permit."

The word "duties" tempted Jared's curiosity. What could he Experiment possibly require of its Warden? Even the Academy was restricted from the archives that guarded such secrets. The Warden continued.

"Her Latin is atrocious. Consider that a priority." The Warden took one small sip from the tumbler, seeming to ponder his only daughter's fathomless imperfections. "As of late she escapes to the gardens, though she can't name a single blossom on the hedge." The Warden's voice deepened in authority. "The idleness ends today." He paused as he took a second sip. "Submit your curricula to me."

Jared had remained silent this entire time, and now his brain was tasting the unpleasantness of acting as both tutor and disciplinarian to the Warden's daughter. But his survival instinct was strong, already working overtime in this environment.

"I will do so, Warden."

The Warden's eyes slid over Jared again, his eyes catching on a buttonhole of his Sapient coat.

"Milton will show you to your tower. Dinner this evening, I think, and you shall meet your pupil then." And with that he rose, Jared rising also, to watch his employer cross the large room and exit through a side door.

Several seconds passed as Jared took in the warm, perfumed room. He released a breath, and lowered himself back to his seat, alone.

His solitude was short-lived. Clearly, the Warden's household ran with precision.

A small figure hovered by the front entry.

"Master Sapient?" Her voice was a squeak. "I'll show you to the tower."

Jared rose from the seat, abandoning the synthetic liquor, and made his way to the young servant sent to look after him.

"Yes, thank you." He watched the girl jump a fraction as he neared.

Without a word, she turned and began to lead him away from the drawing room, down the gallery, past the main entry and its sparse lobby, up a modest staircase, and into a new wing of the manor. Halls were straight, narrow and short, and rooms were few. Up a second stairway, this one more opulent than the last, and down a new gallery that overlooked the expansive flowering gardens and distant orchards of the estate.

Up a third flight, and Jared felt the air grow cooler. Jared felt mild comfort in this new wing, where, like the Academy, fires were not lit for the chambers of the Master Sapienti. It was a sacred Sapienti tradition, unrelated to Protocol, meant to simulate the ascetics of the ancient scholars.

They climbed to the fourth floor, which Jared guessed was the highest living level of the chateau. They passed what looked like a nursery, into a wing of small, tightly spaced doors, until finally, they stepped down from the polished wood flooring onto grey flagstones.

The illusion was impressive. The flagstones lead to a stone archway where slips of sunlight lit the tightly winding stairwell that lead to the east tower.

The girl paused outside the archway and shifted her eyes away from Jared's. He glanced down at her, wondering how many servants the Warden employed.

"Thank you." His voice trailed off, inviting her to speak.

"Milton, sir."

"Thank you Milton. Jared crossed the flagstones, but paused on the first step as the girl Milton spoke again.

"Is it true Master Sapient, about where you come from?"

Jared turned in the archway, and sought out the eyes of the timid girl, youthful impulse clearly driving her to speak.

"The Academy?"

The girl licked her lips. "Yes Master, begging pardon, is it true about what they say? The Master Sapients all read and write in the same place? That even the servants read?"

Listening to this tragic question, Jared felt his sense of home wane. Yes, the Academy employed mostly literate servants, and those ignorant few were quickly educated. Protocol's clutches were weaker within the sanctity of the Academy.

"Yes, the Sapienti are scholars of the Academy. It is our proper place of study." He watched the girl's eyes for signs of interest. Perhaps there would be other pupils at the Wardenry.

Instead, Milton bobbed her head and shoulders in a makeshift curtsy and retreated from the flagstones back to the hardwood flooring. Jared watched her disappear around a corner and then turned back to the stairwell before him.


	4. Chapter 4

"_There has only ever been one person Claudia has cared for in her life, Master Sapient. And that is you." -Incarceron, Chapter 32._

_Chapter 4_

"Ladies and gentlemen, a toast to our honored guest."

In the fragile light of the chandelier, the Warden raised his crystal glass. Jared felt eight pairs of eyes shift in his direction.

"To the Masters of the Academy, and their finest scholar."

Guests echoed the sentiment, and Jared nodded his head in deference to the Warden. Inwardly, he sighed. Dessert was served, the liquor was running dry, and the meal was nearing an end. He had yet to meet his pupil.

The courtier at his right resumed his idle chatter, which Jared continued to indulge. The man's face was stretched taut, as if he spent too many hours with his laser cosmetics. His peach suit was pristine, yet the brooch he wore at his lapel was tarnished. These details Jared took in discreetly, piecing together the man's life as he could.

Finally, the Warden rose, and invited his guests to the front terrace, to enjoy brandy and an evening breeze. His gaze pierced Jared's, and he gestured toward an opposite door.

"Master, I will introduce you to your student."

They walked, side by side, down a hallway lined with portraits, and entered a handsome room lit with several lamps and lightly furnished. Immediately, Jared saw that a small blonde figure was seated on a pale blue settee. Her taffeta dress rustled daintily as she rose to greet them.

The Warden's gaze was empty as he introduced her. "Master Sapient, may I introduce my daughter, the Lady Claudia Arlexa." Abruptly, Jared found himself on the receiving end of the child's gaze. Her blue eyes looked curious, even sweet. She said nothing. The Warden continued.

"Claudia, this is Master Jared Sapiens. He will be your tutor."

Jared, several feet taller than Claudia, took one step forward and extended his hand. Claudia accepted it and he shook it once, with purpose. For a moment, her gaze was locked on the wall behind his left shoulder but when she met his eyes again, they were the same as before, mostly empty and with a trace of counterfeit innocence. Clearly, her father had already damaged her childhood freedom. Jared guessed that Claudia had neither an appreciation for an invited guest of her father's, nor an education of the Sapienti.

Jared stepped back. "I look forward to our sessions Lady Arlexa." There was nothing more he could say, and certainly not in front of the Warden.

Turning to the older man, Jared was appalled to see a lingering satisfaction in the Warden's face. As if he was certain that no trust would be built between them.

_Give me time_, the Sapient thought.

John Arlexa clasped his hands together and nodded once in the direction of his only daughter.

"Your tutoring begins tomorrow."

He turned back to Jared. "It is late. Goodnight Master Sapient."

Jared nodded as the Warden made his exit. He glanced once at the room before him and took in the details he had purposefully ignored before. The settee was creased where Claudia had perched. An empty glass sat on the marble table at its side. The fire was burned down to its coals. Jared paused to consider that Claudia had waited for them through the long hours of dinner, sitting pristinely in her fine yellow taffeta dress on an uncomfortable settee. It was late for a child of her age to be up.

He returned his eyes to the young girl before him and found her waiting for his gaze. It was oddly masked in a face of one so young.

Without warning, she curtsied gracefully.

"Good evening Master Sapient."

Jared watched her trot quietly from the room.


End file.
